DOCSLIB.ORG

Meaning-Making Ocean in an Indonesian Fisher Village

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Meaning-Making Ocean in an Indonesian Fisher Village Master’s thesis in Social and Cultural Anthropology Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology Free University of Berlin “Dry paddle – empty pot” Meaning-making ocean in an Indonesian fisher village Charlotte Schenk Date of submission: 25/05/2020 Contents List of figures ..................................................................................................................... i Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 The ocean as a socio-cultural sphere .............................................................................................. 1 The Sama village of ‘sweet water’ ................................................................................................. 8 Researching multidimensionally .................................................................................................. 11 Chapter outline ............................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter I: Entangling occupations ................................................................................. 17 Mariculture and trade .................................................................................................................... 17 Underwater searching ................................................................................................................... 20 Overwater catching ....................................................................................................................... 24 Cooking ........................................................................................................................................ 27 Collecting water ............................................................................................................................ 28 Washing ........................................................................................................................................ 30 Sea bathing ................................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter II: (Un)settling materialities ............................................................................. 33 Concrete houses and ‘losing culture’ ............................................................................................ 33 ‘Running (off) to the reef’ ............................................................................................................ 39 Money and ‘headache’ .................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter III: Reassuring mutuality ................................................................................. 46 ‘Scared alone’ ............................................................................................................................... 46 ‘Together con(si)stently’ .............................................................................................................. 50 ‘Here it is not together’ ................................................................................................................. 51 ‘We think (about it) together’ ....................................................................................................... 52 Chapter IV: Meaning-making ocean .............................................................................. 56 ‘Hopefully, …’ or patience, luck and support as guiding motive ................................................. 56 ‘Living over the sea’ and what it implies ..................................................................................... 63 ‘Orang Sama bersama-sama’ ........................................................................................................ 67 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 71 Photo gallery ................................................................................................................... 76 Glossary .......................................................................................................................... 91 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 95 List of figures Figure 1: Hill view of the village ............................................................................................................................ 76 Figure 2: Village road (vv) ...................................................................................................................................... 76 Figure 3: Common buildings inside the island ....................................................................................................... 77 Figure 4: Family houses at the edge of the island ................................................................................................. 77 Figure 5: Children playing inside the village .......................................................................................................... 77 Figure 6: Construction connecting island and sea ................................................................................................. 77 Figure 7: Rain falling through stilt house into sea ................................................................................................. 77 Figure 8: People travelling in the distance ............................................................................................................ 77 Figure 9: Ana and Nur's concrete house ............................................................................................................... 78 Figure 10: Ana and Nur's terrace in front of their island-based house ................................................................. 78 Figure 11: Erma's parent's terrace, seaward-part of stilt house (vv) .................................................................... 78 Figure 12: Erma and Saldrin's wooden stilt house ................................................................................................ 78 Figure 13: Saldrin and Erma getting ready to travel to W. to sell lobster, Elo and Devi watching from house .... 79 Figure 14: On a trade trip with Nur, live-fish inside the body of the boat (underneath planks) ........................... 79 Figure 15: Nur's fish tank in front of his house ..................................................................................................... 79 Figure 16: Nur's fish tank, underwater .................................................................................................................. 79 Figure 17: Nur applying iodine into wounds ......................................................................................................... 79 Figure 18: Live-fish trade-platform ........................................................................................................................ 79 Figure 19: Pearl farm, underwater ........................................................................................................................ 80 Figure 20: Men collecting shell-farming racks ....................................................................................................... 80 Figure 21: Women cleaning shell-farming racks ................................................................................................... 80 Figure 22: Searching kima with Ana ...................................................................................................................... 80 Figure 23: Preparing kima with Ana in front of her house; basket with rope to collect seawater ........................ 80 Figure 24: Cooked kima ......................................................................................................................................... 80 Figure 25: Saldrin pulling his boat, searching for octopus .................................................................................... 81 Figure 26: Saldrin teasing octopus out of its hiding place ..................................................................................... 81 Figure 27: Octopus fighting back with ink ............................................................................................................. 81 Figure 28: Saldrin bringing octopus to surface ...................................................................................................... 81 Figure 29: Saldrin killing octopus for transport ..................................................................................................... 81 Figure 30: Clouds and waves, time to return to Boe Manes ................................................................................. 81 Figure 31: Underwater searching by night, catch stored on boat, which Saldrin pulls behind him ...................... 82 Figure 32: Saldrin smiling on the way to the reef .................................................................................................. 82 Figure 33: Erma’s mother fishing with nylon (pv) ................................................................................................. 82 Figure 34: Nur preparing the fishing line for night fishing .................................................................................... 82 Figure 35: Erma grilling fish on the boat by night ................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Human Relationship with Our Ocean Planet
    Commissioned by BLUE PAPER The Human Relationship with Our Ocean Planet LEAD AUTHORS Edward H. Allison, John Kurien and Yoshitaka Ota CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Dedi S. Adhuri, J. Maarten Bavinck, Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, Michael Fabinyi, Svein Jentoft, Sallie Lau, Tabitha Grace Mallory, Ayodeji Olukoju, Ingrid van Putten, Natasha Stacey, Michelle Voyer and Nireka Weeratunge oceanpanel.org About the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy The High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) is a unique initiative by 14 world leaders who are building momentum for a sustainable ocean economy in which effective protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity go hand in hand. By enhancing humanity’s relationship with the ocean, bridging ocean health and wealth, working with diverse stakeholders and harnessing the latest knowledge, the Ocean Panel aims to facilitate a better, more resilient future for people and the planet. Established in September 2018, the Ocean Panel has been working with government, business, financial institutions, the science community and civil society to catalyse and scale bold, pragmatic solutions across policy, governance, technology and finance to ultimately develop an action agenda for transitioning to a sustainable ocean economy. Co-chaired by Norway and Palau, the Ocean Panel is the only ocean policy body made up of serving world leaders with the authority needed to trigger, amplify and accelerate action worldwide for ocean priorities. The Ocean Panel comprises members from Australia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Palau and Portugal and is supported by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Distinct Negation Markers Compete in Malay/Indonesian Verbal Clauses. I Argue That
    EXTERNAL NEGATION IN MALAY/INDONESIAN PAUL KROEGER Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics and SIL International Two distinct negation markers compete in Malay/Indonesian verbal clauses. I argue that one (also used to negate nominal predicates) is a marker of ‘external’ (sentential) negation, while the other is a marker of ‘internal’ (predicate) negation. This contrast is demonstrated by striking dif - ferences in syntactic distribution and scopal properties. In verbal clauses the marker of predicate negation is the default, while the marker of sentential negation is allowed only in certain pragmat - ically determined contexts. These contexts include: (i) contrastive sentences, (ii) marked narrow focus, and (iii) metalinguistic negation. External negation in Malay is restricted to ‘root clauses’; I suggest that this is due to its echoic character.* Keywords : negation, metalinguistic negation, contrastive negation, focus, presupposition, main clause phenomena 1. Negation in verbal clauses . A number of authors, including Gazdar (1979:65–66), Levinson (1983:201), and Horn (1989:366), have stated that no lan - guage, so far as we know, lexicalizes the distinction between external and internal nega - tion. 1 In this article I argue, on the basis of syntactic distribution and semantic scope, that the contrast is lexicalized in Malay/Indonesian. 2 I also present evidence showing that external negation in Malay is a main clause phenomenon in the sense of Green 1976. We begin with a long-standing descriptive puzzle in Malay grammar concerning the choice of negation marker in verbal clauses. Malay employs two different markers for clausal negation. 3 The standard negation marker tidak is used when the predicate is ver - bal (1a) or adjectival (1b), and with most predicative PPs (1c).
    [Show full text]
  • The Spice Islands in Prehistory Archaeology in the Northern Moluccas, Indonesia
    terra australis 50 Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and Island Melanesia — lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present. List of volumes in Terra Australis 1. Burrill Lake and Currarong: Coastal Sites in Southern 30. Archaeological Science Under a Microscope: Studies in Residue New South Wales. R.J. Lampert (1971) and Ancient DNA Analysis in Honour of Thomas H. Loy. 2. Ol Tumbuna: Archaeological Excavations in the Eastern M. Haslam, G. Robertson, A. Crowther, S. Nugent and Central Highlands, Papua New Guinea. J.P. White (1972) L. Kirkwood (2009) 3. New Guinea Stone Age Trade: The Geography and Ecology 31. The Early Prehistory of Fiji. G. Clark and A. Anderson of Traffic in the Interior. I. Hughes (1977) (2009) 4. Recent Prehistory in Southeast Papua. B. Egloff (1979) 32. Altered Ecologies: Fire, Climate and Human Influence on Terrestrial Landscapes. S. Haberle, J. Stevenson and 5. The Great Kartan Mystery. R. Lampert (1981) M. Prebble (2010) 6. Early Man in North Queensland: Art and Archaeology in the 33. Man Bac: The Excavation of a Neolithic Site in Northern Laura Area. A. Rosenfeld, D. Horton and J. Winter (1981) Vietnam: The Biology. M. Oxenham, H. Matsumura and 7. The Alligator Rivers: Prehistory and Ecology in Western N.
    [Show full text]
  • In Search of Asian Malagasy Ancestors in Indonesia Pradiptajati Kusuma
    In search of Asian Malagasy ancestors in Indonesia Pradiptajati Kusuma To cite this version: Pradiptajati Kusuma. In search of Asian Malagasy ancestors in Indonesia. Social Anthropology and ethnology. Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse III, 2017. English. NNT : 2017TOU30109. tel- 01914319 HAL Id: tel-01914319 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01914319 Submitted on 6 Nov 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THÈSE En vue de l’obtention du DOCTORAT DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE Délivré par : Universite Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier Présentée et soutenue par : KUSUMA Pradiptajati Le 14 Septembre 2017 Titre : In search of Asian Malagasy ancestors in Indonesia ED Biologie, Santé, Biotechnologies: Anthropobiologie Unité de recherche : Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse (AMIS) UMR-5288 Directeur(s) de Thèse : RICAUT François-Xavier, Chargé de Recherche LETELLIER Thierry, Chargé de Recherche Rapporteurs : FORESTIER Hubert, Professeur, Paris, France KAYSER Manfred, Professeur, Rotterdam, Pays-Bas Autre(s) membre(s) du jury :
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Assimilation Among Malays and Indians in Malaysia
    Cultural Assimilation among Malays and Indians in Malaysia Punitha Sivanantham' Kumaran Suberamaniarf Abstract This research is about the cultural elements assimilated within Malays and Indians in Malaysia. The cultural elements are including language, literature, roles and statuses of king, women, poets and Brahmins, beliefs & ideologies and customs & traditions. The scholar Munsyi Abdullah's texts were chosen to identify and analyse the Malays cultural practices because he is the father of Malay modern literature in Malaysia. He had literate his books with historical truths. Besides that, Texts of Tamil classical literature also were chosen to identify and list out the Indians cultural habits. The Tamil classical texts were compiled some 2500 years ago in India and it witnesses the Tamils signified the cultural practices in their daily life. The majority of the Malays in Malaysia recognized as Malay descendants by their mother tongue which is the Malay language. Indians had been visiting Malaya as traders and merchants for over 2000 years, but they did not settle down here as settlers until 19th century. The formation of Malaysia under British colonization with multi races of people encourages a good integration among Malays and Indians and therefore there was a chance for them to adapt and assimilate each other's cultural element. Keywords: Assimilation, cultural elements, Abdullah Munsyi's texts, Tamil classical texts, Malaysia, plural society, beliefs, literatures, statuses, customs. Introduction Malaysia can also be synonymous as a multiracial country which is not only has multi cultures and customs but also specific ethnics with own unique identities. As Charlest said 'Unity has the power to raise up small countries and disunity has the power to break down big countries', therefore Malaysia is recognized as a small country with strong unity which is famous with multi races and cultures.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Being Tamil on Religious Life Among Tamil Muslims in Singapore Torsten Tschacher a Thesis Submitted for the Degree
    THE IMPACT OF BEING TAMIL ON RELIGIOUS LIFE AMONG TAMIL MUSLIMS IN SINGAPORE TORSTEN TSCHACHER (M.A, UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE, GERMANY) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAMME NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is difficult to enumerate all the individuals and institutions in Singapore, India, and Europe that helped me conduct my research and provided me with information and hospitality. Respondents were enthusiastic and helpful, and I have accumulated many debts in the course of my research. In Singapore, the greatest thanks have to go to all the Tamil Muslims, too numerous to enumerate in detail, who shared their views, opinions and knowledge about Singaporean Tamil Muslim society with me in interviews and conversations. I am also indebted to the members of many Indian Muslim associations who allowed me to observe and study their activities and kept me updated about recent developments. In this regard, special mention has to be made of Mohamed Nasim and K. Sulaiman (Malabar Muslim Juma-ath); A.G. Mohamed Mustapha (Rifayee Thareeq Association of Singapore); Naseer Ghani, A.R. Mashuthoo, M.A. Malike, Raja Mohamed Maiden, Moulana Moulavi M. Mohamed Mohideen Faizi, and Jalaludin Peer Mohamed (Singapore Kadayanallur Muslim League); K.O. Shaik Alaudeen, A.S. Sayed Majunoon, and Mohamed Jaafar (Singapore Tenkasi Muslim Welfare Society); Ebrahim Marican (South Indian Jamiathul Ulama and Tamil Muslim Jama‘at); M. Feroz Khan (Thiruvithancode Muslim Union); K.M. Deen (Thopputhurai Muslim Association (Singapore)); Pakir Maideen and Mohd Kamal (Thuckalay Muslim Association); and Farihullah s/o Abdul Wahab Safiullah (United Indian Muslim Association).
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews - A.S
    Book Reviews - A.S. Baer, Philip Houghton, People of the Great Ocean; Aspects of human biology of the early Pacific. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, x + 292 pp. - Greg Bankoff, Vicente L. Rafael, Figures of criminality in Indonesia, the Philippines, and colonial Vietnam. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Southeast Asis Program, 1999, 258 pp. - Harold Brookfield, Donald Denoon, The Cambridge history of the Pacific Islanders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xvi + 518 pp., Stewart Firth, Jocelyn Linnekin (eds.) - Cynthia Chou, Shoma Munshi, Clifford Sather, The Bajau Laut; Adaptation, history, and fate in a maritime fishing society of south-eastern Sabah. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1997, xviii + 359 pp. - Cynthia Chou, Shoma Munshi, Krishna Sen, Gender and power in affluent Asia. London: Routledge, 1998, xiii + 323 pp., Maila Stivens (eds.) - Freek Colombijn, Arne Kalland, Environmental movements in Asia. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1998, xiii + 296 pp. [Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Man and Nature in Asia Series 4.], Gerard Persoon (eds.) - Kirsten W. Endres, Phan Huy Chu, Hai trinh chi luoc; Récit sommaire dun voyage en mer (1833); Un émissaire Vietnamien à Batavia. Paris: EHESS, 1994, viii + 228 pp. [Cahier dArchipel 25.] - Aone van Engelenhoven, Veronica Du Feu, Rapanui. London: Routledge, 1996, xv + 217 pp. [Routledge Descriptive Grammars.] - Fukui Hayao, Peter Boomgard, Paper landscapes; Explorations in the environmental history of Indonesia, 1997, vi + 424 pp. Leiden: KITLV Press. [Verhandelingen 178.], Freek Colombijn, David Henley (eds.) - Volker Heeschen, J. Miedema, Texts from the oral tradition in the south-western Birds Head Peninsula of Irian Jaya; Teminabuan and hinterland. Leiden: DSALCUL, Jakarta: ISIR, 1995, vi + 98 pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Chitty” Heritage Community of Melaka
    heritage Article Hybridity and Ethnic Invisibility of the “Chitty” Heritage Community of Melaka Ravichandran Moorthy Research Center for History, Politics & International Affairs, Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi Selangor 43600, Malaysia; [email protected]; Tel.: +60-12-3956150 Abstract: Migration has produced many ethnic minority communities worldwide owing to sea-borne trade, religious evangelicalism, and colonialism. For centuries, these communities have existed alongside other cultures, creating multiethnic societies. However, changes in political, economic, and sociocultural conditions have caused these communities, typically with varying degrees of social alignment and sociocultural adaptation, to re-strategize their inter-ethnic interactions. One such minority community is the “Chitty” of Melaka, a distinct Tamil community that migrated to Melaka, a coastal port city that has flourished in trade and commerce since the late 14th century. This paper investigates the historiography, its hybridity and adaptation, and the concerns of ethnic invisibility faced by this community throughout its 700-year history. Through historical analysis and ethnographic observations, the study finds that the Chitty community has contributed significantly to the sociocultural, economic, and political fabrics of Melaka in different periods of history. Secondly, the Chitty’s hybridity nature enabled them greater dexterity to socioculturally adapt to the changing surroundings and dynamics in Melaka for the last seven centuries. Thirdly, the study finds that due to their marginality in numbers and the mass arrival of new Indian migrants, the ethnic visibility of the Chitty has diminished in the new Malaysian demographic. Keywords: Chitty; Melaka; hybridity; adaptation; ethnic visibility; historical amnesia; Hindu Citation: Moorthy, R. Hybridity and Ethnic Invisibility of the “Chitty” Heritage Community of Melaka.
    [Show full text]
  • R. Raghavan Ethno-Racial Marginality in West Malaysia: the Case of the Peranakan Hindu Melaka Or Malaccan Chitty Community
    R. Raghavan Ethno-racial marginality in West Malaysia: The case of the Peranakan Hindu Melaka or Malaccan Chitty community In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 133 (1977), no: 4, Leiden, 438-458 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com10/03/2021 09:33:49PM via free access RAVEG RAGHAVAN ETHNORACIAL MARGINALITY IN WEST MALAYSIA: THE CASE OF THE PERANAKAN HINDU MELEKA OR MALACCAN CHITTY COMMUNITY One has only to consult the HRAF ethnographic map of Southeast Asia to note that every country in this region comprises numbers of racial and ethnic groups living in relative isolation and with minimal inter- action with one another.1 There have been problems of inter-ethnic animosity causing socio-political instability which are due to attempts by the politically dominant ethnic group to create a system of rewards and punishments and greater cohesion through the assimilation of these 'others' into its indigenous and usually dominant culture. The politics and socioeconomic life of these countries is based on constant efforts to find a modus vivendi to ensure that these diverse groups live in peace and harmony. Mere political cooperation between them was found to be inadequate and destabilizing, leading to a search for other formulae to facilitate cultural assimilation. There have been few sociological investigations of these various groups as they relate to the central national concern for unity through assimilationist strategies; the existing literature in the field has been limited to certain outdated classics.2 As it was ethno-racial conflict which attracted such social inquiry into the subject, these studies focussed their attention essentially on the separate ethno-racial groups and differences.
    [Show full text]
  • PERANAKAN a Colourful Culture PERANAKAN a Colourful Culture
    ASEAN HERITAGE TRAIL PERANAKAN A Colourful Culture PERANAKAN A Colourful Culture Map Attractions not to be Missed Museums and Cultural Attractions Gastronomy Delights All About Craft, Design and Textile Living Arts Highlights ASEAN HERITAGE TRAIL Peranakan, A Colourful Culture Peranakan Heritage Trail, A colourful cultre the story of a blended Southeast Asian heritage Peranakan people developed a peculiar cultre partcularly reflected in More than any other cultres in Southeast Asia, the Peranakan heritage fully objects of the daily life, ornaments and fashion with their bright colours. embodies the essence of the region. Shades of green, trquoise mix with bright pink or yellow colours mixed with Why is it so? Peranakan is a blend of many various Asian cultres living in the strings of gold. region who managed to create a unique way of life. The word “Peranakan” Ceramics reflect the fascinaton for bright colours. All shades are available is derived from the Malay meaning ‘the children of’ or the ‘descendants of’ on dish wares such as tea pots, bowls or kamcheng (containers) but special (Anak means a child in both Malay and Indonesian languages). menton is to be given to tles used on external houses’ facades with their More precisely it describes mostly Chinese immigrants from Southern delicate shades and motves inspired by Brish Art Nouveau. China who setled originally along the Andaman coast of the Malay As does fashion, which mixes elements from Indonesian or Malay cultres Peninsula, expanding then to Siam coastal towns. They also sail to the such as flower-decorated batk assorted to lace or silk blouses for women Islands of Sumatra and Java.
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing Peranakan Identity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Singapore1
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by IUScholarWorks Folklore of East Asia Folklore Forum 38.1 (2008) Hardwick “Neither Fish nor Fowl”: Constructing Peranakan Identity in Colonial and 1 Post-Colonial Singapore Patricia Ann Hardwick Indiana University Abstract This article traces the way in which political processes influence the creation and presentation of Peranakan ethnic identity during the colonial and post-colonial period in Singapore. Peranakan culture combines southern Chinese and Malay traditions and is unique to the nations of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Peranakan identity began to emerge in the seventeenth century and flourished under the British administration of the Straits Settlements and British Malaya in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Associated with the British colonial system, Peranakan identity was suppressed by early Singaporean nationalists. Aspects of Peranakan identity including women’s costume and Peranakan material culture are currently celebrated by the Singaporean nation as emblems of its unique past, as individuals claiming to be Peranakan are encouraged to assimilate to majority Chinese culture. Introduction A few generations ago, a unique and distinct culture blossomed in Singapore and the other Straits Settlements of Malacca and Penang. Its people were called the Babas, but they were also known as the Peranakans - meaning ‘local borns [sic].’ Theirs was a community not only of wealth and influence, but also one rich in tradition and proud of its heritage (The Peranakan Association 2001). In Singapore, the term Peranakan generally refers to individuals descended from early southern Chinese traders and local Malay women.
    [Show full text]
  • Peranakans in Singapore: Responses to Language Endangerment and Documentation
    Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 19 Documentation and Maintenance of Contact Languages from South Asia to East Asia ed. by Mário Pinharanda-Nunes & Hugo C. Cardoso, pp.123–140 http:/nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/sp19 3 http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24907 Peranakans in Singapore: Responses to language endangerment and documentation Nala H. Lee National University of Singapore Abstract Baba Malay is a critically endangered contact language that is home language to the Peranakans in Singapore and Malacca. This paper provides a diachronic perspective on the ways in which the Peranakan community in Singapore has responded to the issues of the issues of language endangerment and documentation. It reports qualitative observations of the community’s responses made by researchers of Baba Malay and community members in the 80s, when they first problematized the endangerment of Baba Malay. It also reports the qualitative and quantitative responses of community members towards language endangerment during and post- process of an ongoing language documentation project. Taken together, these observations show that Peranakans recognize how critically endangered Baba Malay is, and that the community is highly concerned about the potential loss of the language. The community’s general reactions towards language documentation, as well as bottom-up steps taken towards safeguarding the language, are discussed as well. These include the community-led initiatives such as the implementation of language classes, as well as individual-led initiatives, including the development of podcasts and a textbook for language learners. Keywords: Baba Malay, creole, Southeast Asia, endangerment, language documentation, revitalization Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 124 Nala H.
    [Show full text]